What I Admire About Obama

Earlier today, Paul asked the question, what is left to admire Barack Obama for, now that he can’t even talk effectively? Here is my answer to that question: I admire Obama for his consistency.

Obama has never taken responsibility for anything in his life, and now he won’t take responsibility for his lousy performance in last night’s debate. Instead, the Democrats have tried to blame his failure on everything from the moderator to the altitude, and Obama himself has suggested that it was Mitt Romney’s fault that he performed badly: Romney was sneaky! That wasn’t the real Mitt Romney you saw last night, Obama said. To which Glenn Reynolds replied, “I think he’d be better off trying to persuade people that it wasn’t the real Barack Obama we saw last night. . . .”

The Democrats’ whining about Romney’s supposed dishonesty has reached a fever pitch, but meanwhile the always-entertaining Stephanie Cutter has just admitted that the central claim Obama keeps making about Romney’s economic plan–that Romney calls for a $5 trillion tax cut–is false, just as Romney explained last night:

Here is a transcript:

CNN’s Erin Burnett: “Stephanie, let me ask you about that. Because here at CNN, we fact checked that, that $5 trillion in tax cuts and we’ve come and said that’s not true. Mitt Romney has not promised that. Because he’s also going to be closing loopholes and deductions, so his tax cut wouldn’t be anywhere near that size.”

Cutter: “So you’re disputing the size of the tax cut? Or are you disputing also how he’s going to pay for it?

Burnett: “We’re disputing the size.”

Cutter: “Erin, he has campaigned on lowering tax rates by 20% for everybody, including those in the top 1%. That was one of the main selling points in the Republican primary.”

Burnett: “Right. So you’re saying if you lower them by 20% you get a $5 trillion tab, right?”

Cutter: “It’s a $5 trillion tab.”

Burnett: “But then when you close deductions it’s not going to be anywhere near $5 trillion. That’s our analysis.”

Cutter: “Well, okay, stipulated, it won’t be near $5 trillion, but it’s also not going to be the sum of $5 trillion in the loopholes that he’s going to close.”

So in an ever-changing world, let’s give Barack Obama credit for consistency: he never takes responsibility for anything, and can always be counted on to be dishonest.